Many month update

So, I want to do a quick update of the last few months with pictures. Without further ado, here we go.

July: In July we celebrated Canada Day and moved to our new townhouse on the 1st. I started working as resident manager. Oakley and I went down to St. George with my mom and sister to meet up with my other sister and a cousin-in-law and go watch broadway musicals at the outdoor amphitheatre. So fun!

Loving the new place

This is when I popped and you can actually tell I'm pregnant

The sweet girls that watched the boys while we enjoyed three plays

Cute!

Cutie Patootie

Hugs! One of the moments they were getting along. :)

August: Matt did two backpacking trips this summer. The first was Kakwa falls (while we were in Utah) and the second was Skyline trail.  He loves his yearly trips and can't wait until the boys are old enough to go with him. :) We also had our Woodruff reunion that I already blogged about. If you feel the need to refresh yourself with pictures, go here. Fun fun.

September: Ok, I'm basing my months on what is on my camera and apparently September was pretty low key. The only pictures on there were pregnant me ones. So, I was still pregnant in September. :)

Our little family

October: This was an eventful month for us. It started with a delightful retreat in Jasper with Matt's work. We headed out on Friday, Oct 4 and drove up to the hot springs. They were wonderful and Oakley had a blast hopping from one pool to another - especially if he knew he had an audience. What a ham! We met up with everyone that evening and were lucky enough to be booked in in one of the rooms in the main cabin so we didn't have to go very far when we wanted to lay Oakley down or call it a night. Saturday was a busy day with lots of activities. We signed up for the hike so we got to go up the tram and hike around on the mountain for a bit. It was crazy foggy when we got up there so I ditched out of climbing to the top but Matt and Oakley and a few others made it up. After, Oakley and I were pretty wiped so we had a nap while Matt went canoeing with some of the others. There was a big catered dinner that night and I ate WAY too much. I felt so sick. Boo. Then I did it again to myself the next morning at the big brunch in the lodge. Silly pregnant woman! There was tons of food and fun all weekend. It was so nice to get away, enjoy the mountains and get to know some of Matt's co-workers and their families better. Check out was eleven on Sunday morning so after the brunch, we took off. We had intended to drive up to Maligne Lake but after a few minutes on that road, we changed our minds. We didn't realize how far off the main highway it was and didn't want to be on the road going home too late so we turned around and hit up Maligne canyon instead. If any of you go to Jasper, please do yourselves a favour and go there! It is a beautiful hike with nice paths and gorgeous waterfalls. We loved it! Best change of plans.

Justin and Kaleena got married! We headed down to Calgary on the 15th and crashed with our dear friends, the Guenters (thanks again, guys!). Driving for 6 hours straight didn't sound very fun for my body, so breaking up the trip was wonderful. We left Calgary the next morning just in time to make it down to Cardston for the ceremony. It was lovely and we are thrilled to have Kaleena in the family. Welcome, Kaleena! That weekend was the reception and Oakley danced the night away. He was busting a move like no one's business. So funny. He also loved the glow sticks that were handed out.
Next, we carved pumpkins as a family. Matt tried to grow an Atlantic giant pumpkin but due to early frost and no one to cover it, it stopped growing and wasn't very giant but it was still pretty awesome. Matt's aunt Heide let us take home two little cute pumpkins from her garden so we had our three pumpkins to carve. Oakley had a great time drawing on his while Matt and I drew our designs on our own. After, Matt created a face based on the drawings already there and it was really cute. Oakley loved helping scoop out the guts. He would take seeds out individually. :)
Halloween was really fun this year. It was Oakley's first time going trick or treating since he was only 6 months the previous year. I didn't want to be that mom that everyone knows is just taking her kid so she can get the candy...but I secretly did want to. :) Anyways, we had heard really good things about taking kids to malls so after scoping out the various activities at different malls, we decided to hit up Bonnie Doon. They had bouncy castles, face painting, balloons, a petting zoo, snow cones and almost every store gave out candy - all for FREE. Sweet! Oakley loved putting the candies in his bag and was amazed that so many people were giving him candy. He hated being in the petting zoo. Looking at them on the other side of the fence was fine but make him touch a goat or a bunny and he freaked right out. That might have had something to do with being bitten by a horse a few weeks before. That was an adventure. I loved doing it in the mall because there were so many activities, he got more than enough candy and it was inside so we didn't have to worry about keeping him warm (although I hear this year was super mild for trick or treaters). I highly recommend it to all families in the area. We went to a few friends and relatives' houses after and then went home to check out his loot. It was so exciting for him and so fun to watch. We also got our first ever trick or treaters since this was the first year we were above ground! It was one of those things that happen in my life where I feel like a real adult.

Enjoying the tram

Everyone on the hike

At the top!

Mid fall

Our little cabin

All the boys

Oakley loved this rocking chair

Scoopin'

Trying a sample

The completed pumpkins - Oakley's, mine, and Matt's from left to right

He loved them all lit up

Check out the head feathers on that duck! Awesome.

"Look, Mom!"

November: This month started with Matt's 27th birthday! We headed out to the in-laws' acreage for a day of snow and fun. We went sledding and ate good food and played games in the cabin. It was a good time. I sure do love this man of mine and I loved celebrating him!
We also hit up the festival of trees with some friends of ours. There are some pretty amazing tree displays. This time, we headed to the back and caught a few of the dance routines. That was fun. Little kids dancing are really cute. :)

I'm a bad steerer

Oakley wanted to take some pictures one day

Crocheted tree :)

Friends

Kisses. I love how intently E is staring at Oakley

Clapping for the dancers

December: We had a baby! Go here for that story and a plethora of pictures. Emmett has brought so much joy and happiness into our home, as is the case whenever sweet new spirits join a family. We feel like a real family now that Oakley has a sibling to grow up with, if that makes sense. :) We went to candy cane lane the Monday before Emmett was born for Family Home Evening and Oakley loved the lights. His favourites were the two singing houses that we passed. We walked a block of it and then wimped out and went back to our warm car to drive the rest. It's really neat because it's just a section of the city that most of the residents deck their houses out. It's not done by professionals, just regular folk that want to give something to the city.
We had Christmas by ourselves this year. I was nervous about it because I'm from a large family and Christmas is always bustling with people and it was just going to be the four of us. It was really nice though. Matt woke Oakley up (crazy, I know) so that we could do stockings before talking with Auntie Rachel in Finland. It was so nice to see her and show off our new addition. Then we opened all the presents. By the end, Oakley had had enough. It was a long process and he was not interested anymore. I made monkey bread, hash browns and bacon for our Christmas breakfast and it was all really tasty. Mmmm good! Then, we just chilled. Oakley tried out some new toys, and Matt started building his lego and I had a nap. :) We did end up taking a trip to Emergency in the evening. I passed a pretty big blood clot and had a freak out about dying and such. New mothers tend to be a little...emotional. Anyways, after close to 4 hours there, we were sent home and all was well. My Christmas chicken was a little dry as it spent an extra two hours on warm in the crock pot, but overall, it was a great day! We also hit up both of our families during the next two days and enjoyed lots of games, visiting, food, and baby showing off.

Look at his little Santa bum!

Mmm candy canes!

The after math

What a goofy boy!

January: It's been a pretty chill month. Matt went back to work after four weeks off. I may have cried a little when he left. All of us are still alive so we must be doing something right. 

Mama and her boys...and the vacuum.

Oakley loves helping with the dishes :)

Well, that feels good to be done. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the sneak peek into our crazy life here in the Kastendieck home. :)

The Birth Story

So, I'm finally taking the time to write down Emmett's birth story. It's a lot harder to blog when every nap time is cherished recuperation. :)

The date is Dec. 11, 2013. I was so ready to be done being pregnant. I was 39 weeks and completely done. But pretty sure I was going to be pregnant for another two weeks. My doctor had stripped my membranes that morning and given me the unfortunate news that I hasn't dilated anymore in the last week. No way was this baby coming. Off to Costco we go.

While there, I started having some pretty good contractions but after two days of false labour, I didn't think much of it. I didn't even start timing contractions. By the end of our trip, my mom was telling me that she thought I should send Oakley home with her that night. Nope. I was not going to have this baby yet. I should've listened to the woman who gave birth eight times.
By 5 o'clock, arrangements had been made for Kaleena and Justin to come watch Oakley. My contractions were coming around five minutes apart and getting longer. Matt still had to do his managerial snow removal before we could head off so it ended up being around 7:30 when we finally got off.

At the hospital, they took me to the triage room to assess if I was actually in labour. This is the worst part of the visit and I'm sure many of you moons can relate. If you're not in active labour, they send you home. So discouraging. So, my nurse straps me up to all the fancy cords and leaves me for twenty minutes. When I get checked, she says I'm 4 cm dilated (a whole one more than I was that afternoon!) But she wanted to see me at a five before she'd keep me.

"Go walk around for 45 minutes," she said. So that's what we did. Mostly it was just circles around the public elevators and service elevators in the Grey Nuns over and over again. Close to the end, our nurse, Jen, found us and told us she was going to help in the OR soon so we could get checked now or keep walking and get checked after she was done. I had no desire to make any decisions at this point so Jen kindly recommended we keep walking as that would give my body more time to get to a 5 and then I wouldn't have to be sent home.

By the end of that 45 minutes of walking, my contractions were agonizing. I told Matt I was not going home and that someone needed to get me an epidural - pronto. When we returned to labour and delivery, Jen was still in OR but another nurse said she'd check me in ten minutes if Jen still want out. More walking. The other nurse finally checked me and said I was a 4.5- stretchy 5. Because I was adamant that I was not going home, she decided a stretchy 5 was good enough and I was finally admitted at 10:30 pm. My request for an epidural was given and we just waited.

Meanwhile, my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I was shocked by how much they hurt. I was induced with Oakley and had been told induction made contractions way worse than natural contractions but these ones were WAY worse than with Oakley. And this isn't just me forgetting what it felt like. Matt can attest to the fact that they were affecting me a lot more this time around. So much pain. I cried every contraction and became"that" labouring woman. You know, the one that held at her nurse and purposefully hurts her husband? The story with the nurse: during one of my contractions, I was freaking out about coping through and keen said I was doing so well to which I retorted, "I don't feel like I'm doing well!" I instantly felt bad about yelling at her but I bet she's had worse. Now hurting Matt happened right around the time I got the epidural. He was positioned in front of me to help me stay relaxed and flipped over and I had a contraction. Matt was so conveniently there that I grabbed on to his waist and pinched as hard add I could. I actually said to him, "I'm sorry, but I'm not really." Oh yeesh. Finally I had my epidural and I felt like I could survive the rest of the night.

The resident doctor came after the epidural kicked in and ruptured my membranes at 11:30. I went from a 5 before to a 7 after my water broke. Awesome! Time went on and similarly to the epidural with Oakley, the epidural started to slowly wear off on one side. Because of how excruciating the contractions had been, as soon as I felt the teensiest bit of pain, I asked for a top up. That may not have been the wisest choice as I think I could have been ready to push a lot sooner if I could have felt something. Regardless, sometime after one o'clock, I started feeling the urge to push. It was gradual so I let Jen know after I was sure it was time. She checked me and I was fully dilated. Show time. As many of you are aware, Grey Nuns is a "training" hospital so they have lots of students there. There was a 2nd year med student, the resident doctor, my doctor and my nurse in the room. When everyone was in position, I started to push. Two contractions, six pushes and about a minute later at 1:40 am, I was holding my precious baby boy. I was thrilled to have him on the outside. He was perfect! He was given directly to me for skin-to-skin cuddles while the damage was assessed. I am very happy to say that I had NO tearing! Let me tell you, that is joyous.

Our little one was given the name Emmett Owen Kastendieck. For those wondering, no, Emmett was not taken from Twilight, we just liked the name. Owen was Emmett's Grandpa Woodruff's name and I was happy to have him share his name with my son. Emmett weighed in at 6 lb 14 oz and was 19.9 inches long. Perfect. He came out with a full head of dark hair and darker skin than his brother (he did not get that from me). After cuddles and nursing, kisses and smiles, we left the delivery room around 3:00. This sweet baby slept and slept and slept. I tried to feed him a few times but he wasn't fully awake and ready to eat until after noon. The rest was lovely. It was so thrilling to see Oakley that morning and introduce him to his little brother. The tender kisses he gave just melted my heart. He loves his brother. After a few more visits from family, we checked out of the hospital shortly after 7:00 pm, almost exactly 24 hours after we arrived. That was fast.

Emmett is such a sweet content little boy. He rocks at nursing and has the cutest little pucker. Because of the loving abuse of his big brother, Emmett will be one tough kid. He has beautiful blue eyes and has a more calm disposition. We have been truly blessed and are thrilled to watch this sweet spirit grow up.

Post epidural - when I could smile again :)

Happy mama

Proud daddy

So in love

The meeting of two brothers

"Nose"

Uncle Justin K

Grandma Kastendieck

Touch up courtesy of Cristin Cahoon

Grandma Woodruff

Happy boys

Uncle Justin W

Going home

Dreams

I am not one of those pregnant women who has all sorts of crazy, vivid dreams during pregnancy but when I do, they throw me for a loop. The few I have had are the most real dreams I have ever experienced. It's a pretty neat experience once you wrap your head around the fact that it was not real, but just a dream.

So I had my second real pregnancy dream last night and I decided to put it up on the blog before I forget. It is just so strange how real it was!

First thing to note is that we had a baby GIRL. This is my second dream where the baby has been a girl and both times, I wake up and am convinced I'm having a girl. I have to remind myself that two ultrasounds said it was a boy. :) So, we had our baby girl and we were out at my mom's place with all of my family and Matt's family just enjoying the new baby. She was so happy and beautiful and I actually could smell the new baby smell. SO REAL! So, we started playing this in depth game and after the instructions were given, I realized I had not nursed my baby yet. Yikes! She was at least a day old but she was so happy and content that I guess I just didn't think about. I run off from the game to go nurse her in the living room and my brother Greg and sister Emily are just watching me nurse which was weird. Finally I told them to back off so I could figure out this nursing things again in peace. The whole time I was nursing I was so concerned about not having enough colostrum because I waited so long to nurse. Ha! Silly mom brain. Then, it hits me. We have a baby girl and we didn't name her our girl name! So I yell out to Matt, "Matt! We named her the wrong name!" He then informs me that he named her Adler and all the paper work is done, so that's her name. I was so livid! And I told him so. I told him Adler was a terrible name and that he should have talked with me before naming our child and that we needed to fix it. So much emotion. Ha. Then, my mother-in-law came up to me and said, "I'm looking for diapers and all I can find are these big ones. She'll leak through them for sure." That's when I realized that we forgot to get diapers.

Can you tell that I subconsciously feel the need to get organized. The nesting phase, maybe. Anyways, I thought that dream was so random and funny that I wanted to share. Enjoy a laugh at my subconscious' sake. :)

Managing and mothering takes up time...

Well, I haven't been on the blog in a LONG time. Holy smokes! I've been planning posts to do but the actual act has been difficult as I'd rather nap while Oakley naps than write on the blog. Pregnancy problems. True story.

Life has been a whirlwind for us. I am down to four weeks remaining until my due date which is pretty exciting! Matt has been busy with work, climbing, lately shovelling, and working on a really awesome website that will hopefully be up and running in April. I'll post something about it when it's complete. Oakley has been busy busy busy. He is saying more words although still not that much of a talker. He'd rather be playing. His turkey noise is the absolute cutest. I love it! He graduated to a toddler bed after almost falling out of his crib in an escape attempt. Nursery started and he loves it there. He wants to run to the nursery as soon as Sacrament meeting is over. So fun. I've been managing townhouses for the last 4.5 months and it is a lot of work! I am so impressed with moms that do it for longer periods of time. Some days, I just want to throw in the towel. It's been good though. I'm learning lots and getting to interact with other adults. I have made 36 freezer meals for after this baby arrives and I have done all of the Christmas shopping except a few things for Oakley and Matt. Pretty good, I think. We are excited for this little one to join our family. It melts my heart when I ask Oakley where Mama's baby is and he points to my belly and then gives it cuddles. So sweet. Hopefully he's just as sweet to the real baby. :)

So, this really is just a quick update for those that are interested in our lives. I will try to get some posts up of our October adventures with pictures. I know you all love pictures. :) I hope all of you are having a splendid winter and that you stay warm, especially on a day like today.

P.S. Any suggestions for names for baby boy can be left in the comments. We're cutting it close this time. :)

Family Reunion 2013

Well, the time has come again to write about a fun family reunion. This last weekend, we were able to get together with all of my family except my State-side brother and his family (who were greatly missed). This was a pretty low key reunion as no one really took initiative to plan it so we just went and camped out at my mom's house. We had a whole ton of fun activities to do over the weekend and enjoyed being together. I sure do love these guys!

Wheelbarrow races!

All of the grandsons except one - look at that cute smile on Oakley's face. Love it.

We played an awesome game of Human Battleship

Oakley loved dunking the sponges

And throwing them over with Daddy's help

All the grandsons

Emily did an awesome obstacle course complete with twine maze thing

This kid is so good at slackline!

We had a pinata for Christie's birthday party and Oakley loved hitting the dinosaur

Mama and her boy

Action shot of the birthday girl breaking open the pinata. How often have YOU seen the birthday person break the pinata?? Pretty rare.

Sam the Dinosaur

Minute to win it games

It was so hot the chocolate chips melted onto Gabby's forehead! Ha

Westin even got in on the action

And here's the only belly shot from the whole weekend

We played Presidents, Spot it and lots of other games, we sang around the campfire, we had a spectacular firework display courtesy of Chris, ate lots of yummy treats and regular food, and just enjoyed each other's company.

Because I don't have enough pictures and maybe because I'm trying to make up for my lack of blogging, here are some videos too.

I hope you all had wonderful adventures this summer with those you love!

Blessings

Our family has been very very blessed in the last few weeks. We've had many changes and big milestones.

The first, is Matt's milestone. He graduated this spring and passed all of his courses - yes, even you, Computing Science! Ha! Along with that, he was able to quickly transition from finals to workplace in his field of study with only one week of down time. What a HUGE blessing this has been! One week ago today, our little family headed to the Jubilee to support Matt in his convocation. While there, one of the workers told me that Oakley and I could go to the main floor and use the glass room where we could hear and see everything but no one could hear us. Her timing was impeccable as the nap time fussing shortly followed our arrival in that brilliant room. Another blessing. :) I am so proud of Matt and the accomplishments he has made and will continue to make.

This is what Oakley and I did during grad

Lovin' the lights!

Our future

SO proud of you!

Our little family

The next big news in our life is a management position. Matt got a call on the 10th asking if we'd be interested in managing and to submit our resumés if we were. I emailed them off on Tuesday morning and by that afternoon, we had an appointment. We had to wait until the next Tuesday to find out if we got it but we did. This will be a crazy adventure with so many blessings involved. Windows, a basement for storage, control of our own heat, three bed rooms, lower rent...just to name a few. 

And the last blessing. This ^ photo was put up on Facebook last Saturday. Yes, this is an announcement that Oakley will have a little brother or sister to be best friends with in just a few months. This pregnancy has been quite similar to Oakley's thus far. I'm feeling great and I was thrilled to hear the baby's heartbeat on Monday morning. All is well and that is indeed relieving. 

I am grateful for blessings and for the opportunity I have to see God's hand in my life every day. He loves me. I know it, and that is tremendous blessing.